President-elect Barack Obama and Iraqi war veteran and Illinois State Director of Veterans Affairs, Tammy Duckworth, place a wreath at The Bronze Soldiers Memorial in honor of Veteran's Day on the Lakefront in Chicago, Illinois.

Isn't that a nice picture...so heartwarming! I hope she remembered to pay her insurance premiums, because now President Obama wants to charge wounded veterans for treatment. The President is looking to generate $540 million by requiring private insurance companies to reimburse the Department of Veterans Affairs in cases of soldiers who suffered service-connected injuries and disabilities.

The American Legion "strongly opposes" the President's proposed plan, and states, "The American Legion does not and will not support any plan that seeks to bill a veteran for treatment of a service connected disability at the very agency that was created to treat the unique need of America's veterans!"

An excerpt from the following linked article states:

It was stated then that The American Legion believes that the reimbursement plan would be inconsistent with the mandate that VA treat service-connected injuries and disabilities given that the United States government sends members of the armed forces into harm's way, and not private insurance companies. The proposed requirement for these companies to reimburse the VA would not only be unfair, says the Legion, but would have an adverse impact on service-connected disabled veterans and their families. The Legion argues that, depending on the severity of the medical conditions involved, maximum insurance coverage limits could be reached through treatment of the veteran's condition alone. That would leave the rest of the family without health care benefits. The Legion also points out that many health insurance companies require deductibles to be paid before any benefits are covered. Additionally, the Legion is concerned that private insurance premiums would be elevated to cover service-connected disabled veterans and their families, especially if the veterans are self-employed or employed in small businesses unable to negotiate more favorable across-the-board insurance policy pricing. The American Legion also believes that some employers, especially small businesses, would be reluctant to hire veterans with service-connected disabilities due to the negative impact their employment might have on obtaining and financing company health care benefits.

To read the complete article, follow the link:
American Legion Stronly Opposed to President's Plan

On behalf of Congressman Ron Paul and the Campaign for Liberty, I am urging all Americans to copy and sign the following petition and mail it to your Senators and Congressmen. It is time for the Federal Reserve to be held accountable to the American people. Recently, when asked by Congress to account for 2 TRILLION dollars in taxpayer-backed loans, the Federal Reserve replied, "NO WAY." This is YOUR money, people! The TRILLIONS of dollars being pumped out by the Fed right, along with the massive amount of money already committed to the recent economic bailouts total more than the socialist New Deal, the Iraq War, the 1980's savings and loan disaster, and the Korean War COMBINED!

It is time to put a stop to the out of control Federal Reserve! Please copy, paste, fill in the blanks, print, and sign the following petition, and urge your Representatives to cosponsor Ron Paul's "Audit the Fed" Bill.

The Federal Reserve is a PRIVATELY owned bank with NO reserves!



"Audit the Fed" Petition to
Congressman/Senator (insert your rep's name here)

Whereas: The Federal Reserve refuses to give a public accounting of the TRILLIONS in recent taxpayer-backed loans and fiat money pumped into the banking system; and

Whereas: Congress has the responsibility to force a public audit of the Federal Reserve, and the American people deserve to know how their tax dollars are being spent and the currency inflated; and

Whereas: Allowing the Fed to remain out of control and shrouded in secrecy clearly allows for abuse and the continued stealing of our tax dollars; and

Whereas: The Federal Reserve System itself leads to constant economic crises like the current housing crisis and the resulting chaos; and

Whereas: The Federal Reserve System forces fuel, food, housing, medical care and education costs upward meaning that everyone who is NOT on the government dole is forced to make do with less as the value of their money slowly decreases; and

Whereas: History shows us that riots, violence, and full-scale police states can result when people finally realize fiat money isn't worth the paper it's printed on and REFUSE to accept it;

Therefore(if for Congressman): I urge you to cosponsor Ron Paul's Audit the Fed Bill, and make every effort to seek roll call votes.

OR

Therefore(if for Senator): I urge you to support a companion piece of legislation to Ron Paul's Audit the Fed Bill.

Signed: (your name) of (your city, state)

TO FIND THE ADDRESSES FOR YOUR REPRESENTATIVES AND SENATORS, FOLLOW THESE LINKS!
Contact your State Representatives
Contact your Senators

Please excuse the look of my blog! I've finally decided to change it a bit, and it's going to take me some time to get a grasp on this CSS stuff. My brain is on information overload thanks to LeeHarvey and dragon_harrower--I might just short circuit.